OTTAWA - Ending the two week Zustrich-Jamboree 2000, over 300 Canadian
Plast members left the marvelous grounds of the Scout Camp Awacamenj Mino
in Quebec on August 13 and headed home. Although in the last decades Plast
Canada had participated in several international Plast gatherings, this
was the first all-Canadian Zustrich-Jamboree since 1970 in Manitoba, which
had marked that province's 100th birthday.

The site of this year's Zustrich is owned by the Ottawa District of the
Association des Scouts du Canada, the Francophone Canadian scouting organization.
The 50,000-member Scouts du Canada is the second Canadian member of the
World Organization of the Scouting Movement (in addition to the Anglophone
Scouts Canada), giving Canada the unique distinction of being the only country
in the world scouting body with two official members.

The campers and leaders, who came from all cities in Canada with Plast
branches, were divided by age into seven sub-camps. Their separate programs
were made up of traditional scouting activities, such as campcraft and hiking,
but also included a trip to Ottawa with a visit to the Parliament Buildings
and the Museum of Civilization for all campers. The younger groups also
enjoyed hikes to underground caves and a horse ranch, while for the older
participants went on two- and three-day hiking trips, with canoeing on the
Gatineau River.

The wet and occasionally stormy weather sometimes slowed things down,
but did not dampen the campers' spirits. At the end, there was a two-day
inter-troop challenge competition, organized by Andriy Monczak of Ottawa,
which encompassed sports, group and individual activities, and was a highlight
of the Zustrich-Jamboree program. First-place winners were the boys of Ottawa
Troop 101 and the girls of Toronto Troop 10.

The 800-acre Awacamenj Mino is particularly suited to a Zustrich-Jamboree
as it includes wooded areas, where the sub-camps were located, and open
spaces, as well as challenges such as a rappelling wall and an obstacle
course, both of which were popular with the campers. As the wooded areas
are kept thinned out to make camping possible, the campers were allowed
to cut down designated trees and were therefore able to try out their skills
in building camp structures - something that is rarely allowed at campsites
today.

The Zustrich-Jamboree program included a celebration of the Holy Year
2000. Both Bishop Cornelius J. Pasichny, eparch of Toronto and Eastern Canada,
Ukrainian Catholic Church, and Bishop Yurij Kalishchuk of the Toronto and
Eastern Eparchy, Ukrainian Orthodox Church, came to celebrate liturgies
on August 6. They also visited the sub-camps and had lunch with the Zustrich
leaders at tables built that week by the campers.

The final campfire saw the return of "Panteleimon Pupchik"
(the infamous author of "Life in Plast and How to Avoid It") -
his first public appearance since the Zustrich of 1987.

The organizing committee of the Zustrich-Jamboree 2000 was based at the
Ottawa Plast branch, headed by Lydia Migus, with Radomir Bilash of Edmonton
as the western representative. The organizers received much support from
the Sheptytsky Institute of Ottawa, where several of the organizers work.

Before the Zustrich-Jamboree a website (http://www.ncf.ca/plastottawa)
provided information and application forms, while during the event photos
were made available online. At the end of the Zustrich-Jamboree all campers
received an illustrated 12-page newsletter produced on the quick thanks
to digital cameras and the desktop publishing talents of Roman Waschuk.